HIGH ACHIEVERS: Former teacher Gerry Manale touched all bases in high school sports

By Martin Cleary

Gerry Manale was a man for all sports.

As a high school teacher, he stepped out of the classroom to volunteer his time and coach numerous team sports in his 32 years. He coached 11 different sports in his teaching career – golf, track and field, hockey, basketball, gymnastics, swimming, water polo, volleyball, touch football, football and wrestling.

But he didn’t stop at just instructing, motivating and encouraging young student-athletes. He also was involved in the bigger high school sports picture as an athletic director, head of physical and health education, convenor, OFSAA representative, referee and convenor advisor.

When the weather allowed, Manale could be found on the golf course, where he was focused on his primary sport. He started playing in 1960 at age 25 and continued into his 80s.

Manale, who loved to share his knowledge of sports at the high school level and appreciated the respect and dedication of his student-athletes, passed away on Dec. 10. He was 88.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised in Toronto, he came by his love of coaching and administrative work honestly as his athletic talents led him to play and understand the games of baseball, football, hockey and golf.

After graduating St. Michael’s High School in Toronto in 1954, he spent the next five years at the University of Toronto to earn his teaching certificate. During his university days, he played intramural football in 1957 and 1958 and skated for two seasons with the university’s junior varsity team from 1956-58.

He played semi-pro baseball in 1957 for the Holdrege White Sox in the class D Nebraska State Rookie League, where he was a second-team all-star as a first baseman. In 1958, he was the shortstop for the Orlando Flyers in the Florida State League.

When Manale began his teaching career, he joined the Ottawa Board of Education (now the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board) and taught phys-ed and science at Hillcrest (1961-66), the former Sir John A. Macdonald (1966-80), Ottawa Tech (1980-90) and Canterbury (1990-92).

In his opening assignment at Hillcrest, he had great success with his athletes. He coached Hillcrest to the Ottawa junior football championship in 1964 and the board intermediate title in 1965.

From 1962-66, he led the Hillcrest wrestling team to the Ottawa and Ottawa Valley championships. One of his athletes, George Tutt, became the first Ottawa wrestler to win an OFSAA gold medal in 1966 in the 47.5-kilgram class. Manale served as co-convenor for the OFSAA championship that year, when it was staged at Bell High School.

In track and field, Manale coached Barb and Judy Dallimore and Bruce Antonello to Ottawa, Ottawa Valley and OFSAA championships. Manale also took the Grade 9 boys’ gymnastics team to an Ottawa title and spent two years behind the bench with the Hillcrest contact hockey team.

Manale’s longest stint as a teacher/coach was at Macdonald, at the site of today’s St. Paul Catholic High School. His teams excelled in golf, swimming, water polo and wrestling. He also coached the football team from 1966-1980 and the boys’ junior basketball team.

He made a big first impression in 1966, when he brought his wrestling tactics to Macdonald from Hillcrest and helped the west-end school win seven consecutive Ottawa and Ottawa Valley titles. Manale also served as a wrestling referee when needed at the Ottawa, Ottawa Valley and provincial levels.

During that timeframe, Manale also produced four Ottawa swimming champions – girls’ senior 1968 and 1970, boys’ senior 1970 and grand aggregate 1970. He followed that by coaching the water polo team to the Ottawa girls’ championship in 1971 and 1972.

The Macdonald boys’ golf team captured the Ottawa board team trophy in 1974 and 1975 under Manale’s leadership.

In his decade at Ottawa Tech, Manale coached the hockey team to two championships for the vocational and commercial high schools.

For his final teaching/coaching assignment, Manale shook things up. He took the girls’ senior touch football team to the Ottawa final and also guided the boys’ junior volleyball team.

Besides serving as the head of physical and health education and athletic director at Macdonald, Ottawa Tech and Canterbury, Manale also was the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association OFSAA representative from 1990 through 1992.

Manale’s resume also includes being an advisor to the Ottawa high school convenors for wrestling and hockey.

“I think I made a difference, and I feel very good about that,” Manale reflected in an interview with CJOH’s Terry Marcotte in 2000. “I’m very happy about the sports I coached and I hope that the youngsters that were on my teams derived a lot of benefit from that.”

Away from high school sports, Manale made a big impression in golf. He started an adult education program called Golf for the Adult Beginner and held it at Sir John A. Macdonald High School from 1967 to 1989.

In 1993, he wrote a book called Golf for the Adult Beginner and a decade later published his second book, Golf – A Collection of Writings, Observations, Reflections and Insights. Both books were donated to the libraries in Manotick and North Gower.

As a golfer, he was a three-time Carleton Golf and Yacht Club champion in 1972, 1973 and 1984.

In 1992, he played in the Canadian seniors championship in Kamloops, B.C. and helped Quebec to a fourth-place finish. He was an age-group champion at the 1995 and 2000 Quebec seniors championships.

Manale competed in the Canadian senior match play and stroke play championships for 20 years and played in Ottawa and Quebec tournaments for more than 50 years. He also represented his club in the annual men’s and seniors intersectional competitions run by the Ottawa Valley Golf Association.